Thorns in the hedge: Murdochs get green light for $11.6m mansion expansion

Peter Munro

Good fences make good neighbours but swimming pools are another matter entirely.

A Bellevue Hill neighbour of Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch's has declared they will get on famously - so long as they don't have to see each other - after the local council approved the couple's plans for an $11.6 million expansion of their stately manor.

As the Herald has reported, some neighbours objected that a proposed 25-metre pool and attached ''pool room'' at the rear of the Murdochs' $23 million Georgian mansion would infringe their privacy.

But Woollahra Council approved the plans on Monday on the condition the pool room be pushed back a further 1.5 metres from the rear boundary.